hearts other dead things Reviews

Erik Nelson2018-11-01 14:32

I’m just going to go right ahead and say it; this is probably the best group of short stories that I have read ever. Why? Because there are no boundaries. The authors don’t follow a narrative to connect the short stories and they don’t even have the same genre. There are also some poems in here as well. The following authors are not only talented and brave with their writing; they are also full of heart since most of the proceeds of this book will help HOME, a charity that helps women take legal action against abusive employers. Bradley Darewood, Cat Nicolaou, J. Cassidy, Charlotte Stirling, S.A Shields, Adam Oster, Angelika Rust, Ken Alexopoulos, W.D Frank, Tina Rath, Yvonne Marjot, T.M Hogan, Chloe Hammond, Jay Robbins and A.E Churchyard. Now because these are short stories and poems, I’m not going to go into great detail about them because if I did, I would be just spoiling it all for you, so instead, I’ll be giving my points-of-view on the poems and just relevant information on the short stories.In “Romantics Anonymous”, Maggie is having a field day sharing her past relationships in her group along with her most recent ex. She feels great whenever Jeremy looks either embarrassed or jealous that she’s had a lot of different experience with sex. But will Jeremy use Maggie’s past relationships to his advantage or will he fail to learn what he could do better to her? Both in and out of bed? In J. Cassidy’s poem, I learned that it’s better to be a diamond when it comes to having feelings. In “The Hungry Skulls”, Simon marries Rosa not for love but because he hates Mexicans and Rosa being one, he feels that he can dominate her; both physically and mentally. Rosa takes her frustrations out on their maid by beating her up and even going so far as to destroying sentimental things of hers. But the maid gets revenge with a little help of The Day Of The Dead. In S.A Shields poem, we finally get a real perspective on why most people, particularly women stay in abusive relationships. In “Girl Of My Dreams: A Saga For A Failure”, we get a realistic story of geek meets hot girl who’s way out of his league. We’ve seen this story a million times both in film and literature but how many times does the geek actually get the girl in real life? I like how the girl who’s way out of the geek’s league is call simply Girl Of My Dreams or GOMD for short. The geek does have some happy moments but he does find a note from her later on. Is it good or bad? In “Rain”, we find out that the twist in this involves a dog. In “I Think I Need A Shower”, has a twist involving a napkin but not the type of napkin you use to clean food off of yourself with. In “Down The Drain”, a relationship goes down the drain because of something that pushes something else down a real drain. In “For The Love Of Cats & Dogs”, Marion is the typical crazy cat lady. Her friend, Tracie wants her to date but her past dating life makes her want to just mingle with her cat. She does however meet with Graham but she kicks him out once she discovers his Rottweiler. They both agree to compromise and have the dog live outside. One day when Marion is out of the house, Graham allows his dog inside. What happens next will test the real fate of romance between dog and cat lovers. Will the result be forgiveness or something worse than not forgiving? In “Your World And It’s Weather”, we find out that we humans are the universe. In “Buried Doll”, we finally get the point-of-view of a doll that’s buried. Once you read this poem, you’ll regret doing this when you were a kid. Come on, we’ve all done that. In “Johnny On The Spot”, Anna and her mother are waiting for Anna’s sister Maize to come home with her boyfriend. What happens next are nothing but twists. So many twists that I can’t state any of them here. It’s well worth the read. In “Number Six”, a rapist who only calls himself Johnny finally finds the perfect woman in Chinatown to rape. Once he believes that he has Yuki right where he wants her, he tries to make his move. But before he can, he needs to overcome one obstacle; Yuki’s revenge. In “Deleting Jessy”, we get a story that’s more entertaining and has a better through line than the movie “Unfriended”. In “Burn”, we see that sometimes the title speaks for itself. Basically, it’s the feeling we feel when we go through a hard break-up. Still read the story though. In “Valentine’s Day”, a couple where the man sees the “holiday” as a scam finally decides to treat his wife to something after nine years of not doing anything on V-Day. She wants to see the movie “Deadpool” but when he says that he doesn’t think she’ll like it, she gets pissed because she makes it obvious all the time that she likes it. Wanting to get revenge for not listening to her constantly as well as screwing up what she thought was going to be a romantic night, she thinks of other men or women who she can have a good time with. In “Sex In Santo Domingo”, we get a story where the settings fit the bill of a classic horror story but the characters and dialogue are modern and to some extent; funny. In “Waiting”, the Day Of The Dead comes back and there is no defense plan at all. In “Miss Angelika March”, the title character stole the husband of forty years from the person who’s telling the story and she wants revenge at nighttime. In “To Hell & Back”, Russell and Alyssa were high school sweethearts in the past. They meet up and get married. After their honeymoon, Russ leaves to fight for the country. She gets news that he’s returning home due to a head injury. She’s relieved when she first sees him because there are no physical damages to him. Instead, she has a completely different person as her husband. Will this take a toll on their marriage or will she understand why he’s changed and will try to help him? In “Eternal Love”, we are reminded that every love life is different including eternal love. In “Miss Smith’s Upgrade”, we are reminded that technology helping world health can be both beneficial and dangerous. Keyword; boyfriend. In “I Dream Of Rigor: A Heartwarming Tale Of Murder, Sex & Snuggling”, we see a straight Jeffery Dahmer who probably isn’t a cannibal. In “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Skunk Cabbage”, we learn that love must have a real physical scent. This is it! In “Man In A Can”, two women who look alike talk about their favorite drinks and sex experiences. In “Metamorphosis”, we are reminded that love and friendships have a tendency of morphing from good to bad and bad to good. In “Agnes & Albertine”, the title characters who were former employee and employer and who are currently lovers bicker with each other after a bombing occurs. In “The Number”, we learn that if you see a phone number written on a public wall and has the words; “For a good time…” above it, don’t call it. If you do, hang up. If you don’t, say that you dialed the wrong number and block that number from calling you back. If you don’t and make plans, don’t show up. If you do and she turns out to be hot and nice, RUN! In “The Chest”, Dave leaves Kelly and takes everything with him including Kelly’s chest. Not her breast implants, the first Valentine’s Day gift he got her. She at first appears to be only sad but will it lead to something worse?

Jesamine James2018-11-03 10:24

I'm sure we've all been there. Those primitive stirrings of infatuation and passion that we call love. Strangely, this madness often brings with it, jealousy, envy, possessiveness, protectiveness, defeat and rage. This collection of short stories and poems explores the darker side of those 'love' pheromones. Feelings and actions that we never knew hid inside our hearts and minds.This is also a great variation of styles and attitudes, as the book is authored by many different writers. They are all top quality and bring something different each time.There is something for everyone in this book, whether you have an 'I've been there!' moment or you get a little alarm bell ringing in your mind and making you think twice before diving into that relationship.Highly recommended.

Amy Shannon2018-10-27 10:33

Amazing storiesThis is a grand collection of the out of the ordinary stories. Some are kinda creepy and some are kinda horrifying, but they are well written and a great collection that was put together. It takes great skill to collaborate on a collection with other authors, and all of these stories fit right in with each other. My personal favorite, "Sea of Contradictions" but there are many that caught my eye.

Sarah Butfield2018-11-20 15:10

This was not my usual preferred genre; as an anthology the book is made up of diversified short stories, romance, horror, sci-fi, inter mingled with poetry, and in general, is well written.I began reading the first short story about a self help group and slowly became interested as to where this particular story was leading. The conversations varied from irrelevant to interesting and yes, the ending did leave me thinking that there was a lesson to be learnt. Then came a short piece of prose which I thought at the time to be out of place. This was followed by another short story, more prose, and I suddenly realized I was actually beginning to enjoy most of the stories in this book.Each story had its own meaning, from unrequited love and robotic chairs to zombie dating. The various pieces of prose served to refresh the palette ready for the next change of short story genre.Although at first I had pre-conceived ideas as to what reader satisfaction I would get from this book, I found that I did enjoy the change of topics, underlying meanings and even refreshing poems.The only negative was that the cover does not portray the variation of reading enjoyment inside

Sharon Stevenson2018-11-10 18:28

'Hearts & Other Dead Things' is a diverse anthology of stories and poems that fall under romantic themes. The authors come from all over the world which leads to stories from some very interesting perspectives. The proceeds from Cake and Quill anthologies go to charity so purchase of the book means you are contributing to a good cause.I do love a good anthology and this one had plenty of interesting, unusual stories with differing tones. Mostly the tone was dark, at times comedic. The romantics anonymous story stayed with me the most after I finished reading, it was pretty funny and the characters were great. The poems seemed well written but I'm not a fan of poetry to be honest. The quality of the writing overall was excellent. I enjoyed the whole volume so much I was disappointed when I realised I'd turned the final page. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a well written, diverse collection of short fiction. Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

About the author

Angelika Rust Charlotte Stirling Tabatha Stirling Catherine Lenderi - Angelika Rust was born in Vienna in 1977. These days, she lives in Germany, with her husband, two children, a despotic couple of cats and a hyperactive dog. After having tried almost every possible job from pizza delivery girl to HR consultant, she now makes a living knowing a little English.She doesn't know yet what she wants to be when she grows up, whenever that may be. In the meantime, she writes the occasional book.

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